Puppy training sessions.
Ninety minutes at the ranch, one on one with Steve or Dave, on the fundamentals of puppyhood: the leash, the crate, housebreaking, nipping, and the calm that everything else is built on. Taught to your puppy, and to you.
The private puppy session.
Not every family begins with a residency. A private puppy session is ninety minutes, one on one with Steve or Dave, on the fundamentals of puppyhood.
We assess your puppy and the two of you together, talk through what you are seeing at home, work hands-on, and leave you with a game plan for continued success.
You come away with a lifetime's worth of dog psychology, the kind that applies not only to your puppy but to every dog you will ever meet.
Ninety minutes that set the rules.
We start by watching. Your puppy, you, and the way the two of you already work together tell us most of what we need to know in the first minutes. Then we work hands-on: the leash, the threshold, the crate, the moments at home that are already going sideways. You do the handling, with us beside you, because the rules have to come from your hands to hold at home. You leave with a written plan for your individual puppy.
Single or a series of three. One ninety-minute session, or the ninety-minute session and two sixty-minute follow-ups. The follow-ups are where a puppy's new normal is set, with two to four weeks between sessions.
A first puppy, or a puppy that is already winning.
The family with a first puppy who wants to start right. The family whose puppy is nipping, pulling, having accidents, or running the house at fourteen weeks. And the family with a puppy under twelve weeks who is headed for The Puppy Residency: a session now sets up the weeks before the stay, so the first month at the ranch is ideal.
Sessions are for puppies of any age. When a puppy needs more than a session can give, we will say so, and The Puppy Residency is the next door.
A plan custom to the two of you.
Every session ends with an education in dog psychology and a step-by-step plan written for your individual puppy, so you know exactly how to maintain their behavior in the places you live your life.
The plan is built on your puppy's specific behaviors, age and energy level and, most importantly, on your own personality and capabilities.
A puppy lesson, on film.
Mona Vand and Steve, working together with her puppy.
In their words.
“PLD is hands-down worth the investment! What you don't want to do is end up paying triple because you had to go to five different trainers that PLD could've gotten right the first time.”
Alexis PenceFoxy's family
“I sincerely wish that I found Steve way sooner than when I did.”
Ollie QueenGoogle review
Before you begin.
How old should a puppy be for a session?
Any age. Sessions are not age-gated the way The Puppy Residency is (twelve to twenty weeks). A puppy still settling in at ten weeks and a puppy testing the house at six months both belong here; the plan is built for the puppy in front of us.
Should we do a session or The Puppy Residency?
A session changes your handling and you do the rest at home. The Residency changes your puppy's habits at the ranch over two to four weeks with you training alongside every week. If you want the foundations set quickly and completely, and your puppy is twelve to twenty weeks old, the Residency is the more complete path. If you want the work in your own hands, start with a session. We will tell you which fits at the first session.
Where do sessions take place, and with whom?
At The Maddie Ranch, where we can control the environment, with Steve or with Dave DeSantis, our Head Trainer. In-home sessions are available for follow-ups only, case by case and not guaranteed, with a travel fee.
Not sure this is the one?
Begin at the beginning.
The application takes five minutes and you will hear from us within one business day.
We quote your sessions on the first call, before you book. The first session is where we meet your puppy; no separate assessment is required.